Dipa Karmakar, BMW and a prize of plight: Hyderabad Badminton body chief to talk to gymnast

Hyderabad: Hyderabad District Badminton Association (HBA) president V Chamundeswarinath, who gifted the luxury car which Dipa Karmakar wants to return owing to maintenance issues, on Wednesday said he will have a word with the gymnast on the difficulties she is facing in handling the vehicle.

File photo of Dipa Karmakar. Reuters

"We will discuss with her. Whatever Dipa is comfortable with, we will look into it; if not BMW car," Chamundeswarinath told PTI at Hyderabad.

Karmakar had indicated about difficulties in the maintenance of a BMW car, which was handed over to her by cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar.

"The idea of gifting cars to the sportspersons was to encourage them to do better," he said.

Rio Olympics medallists PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik and Karmakar, who narrowly missed out on a medal, were gifted with luxury cars by Chamundeswarinath for their achievements in the Rio Olympics.

Tendulkar, who was the Goodwill Ambassador of the Indian team at Rio Olympics, handed over the keys of the vehicles to them at a function held at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy here on 28 August.